London Bombings: Blair's Nauseating Hypocrisy [Update]

1. rebelcry left...

thanks, Ed, for some sanity over the bombs in London. The mainstream media has been hysterical. Even a lot of blogs are covering the story from the same angle.

We illegally invaded Iraq for no apparent reason. Now we scream 'barbarity when 'they' attack us.

And Blair continues to practise what Bush preaches. I only hope enough people here in Britain blame this government.

2. Ray Hewitt left...

People killing innocent people... The words George Bush spoke without a hint of irony. Bush and Blairs illegal and unecessary war is no longer just killing troops overseas, it is no longer just the Iraqis who bare the brunt. Those lies are now killing Brits on their way to work. The blame for these killings lies not with the bogeyman 'Al Qaida'. They lie with their Master - Blair.

3. Terry left...

Why does the United States and Britain need a change of policy? You stated the following: "It's Up to the Anti-War Movement to Attack Blair - The Man Responsible for British Barbarity in Iraq and Radical Islam's Response to It." You believe George W and Tony Blair's cause to go to war in Iraq produced Radical Islamists to bomb London. I submit Radical Islamists would have bombed London regardless of the war in Iraq! Why did they bomb my Nation on 9/11? We are fighting this global war on terror because it is result of decades of rising violence against democracies. The United States launched a war on terror because of the events on 9/11; however, this is not the only reason we launched the war. I submit it was a combination of events that led to the global war on terror. For example, in October 1983 in Lebanon, an Islamic extremist drove a bomb-filled truck into a marine barracks, killing 241 Americas. A decade later, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by terrorist. Again, while President Clinton was in office, the United States was attacked. In August 1998, the American embassies in Africa were attacked, killing 12 Americans and more than 250 Africans. Less than a year before the 9/11 attacks, the attacks on the USS Cole killed 17 soldiers and injured 39. This evidence clearly supports my argument that it was a combination of events that led to the global war on terror. We must fight back. In closing, my prayers go out to your country.

4. reader left...

Whilst Terry makes some valid observations on the multitude of "terrorist" incidents upon the USA, I cannot help but goggle at the selective blindness employed by a large portion of americans. While my sympathies go out to all victims of terrorism, the simple fact is that elements of both the US and the UK goverments have, over many years, killed, tortured, bombed and generally made life miserable for many millions of people. And while many (if not most) of these acts of violence have been cleverly hidden from the view of the general populace, to ignore them and imagine that one's own country is blameless and undeserving of retaliation seems to me a hallmark of America's collective failure to grow beyond their own self serving needs and desires. With the current hysteria surrounding the London bombings, it is my hope that the people of the UK will not allow their liberties to be further eroded, and instead consider how many in other countries have suffered at the hands of their leaders. I'm quite sure it's a good few more than the London bombings and World Trade Towers put together.

5. Jeff O'Neill left...

A Modest Proposal: The Roots Of Terrorism Are Terrorists.

Mr. Marqusee seems to think that since the London terrorists (-if you live in Reutersville, read: freedom fighters-) have 'reasons' to commit indiscriminate acts of barbarity against innocent British citizens (i.e."this attack is a consequence of our role in dishing out brutality in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine") then it is somehow Tony Blair's fault.

Change the variables and compute.

If I were to empty my HK USPC 9mm into Mike's sunken chest, I assure you it would only be because he's the type of fashionable pansy George Orwell would have identified as being "objectively pro-terrorist". It would be a direct consequence of the fact that he demonstrates the truly dangerous mobius-strip moral confusion that has infected the Angry Left. It would be a result of the fact that Mike is an obvious cognitive superconductor of hollow bien-pensant pacifist bullshit, the niggling mindlessness of the self-same soi-dissant, and the risibly vain manufactured dissent of the "Just Say No To War And Terrorists Will Go Away" crowd.

That's right Mike. Your violent and bloody death would be YOUR fault. And Susan Sontag's. And Harold Pinter's. And Mary Beard's.

And how many of Mike's moonbat mental clones would employ the sordid logic of "Well...uh, if only Mike hadn't of done that, then Jeff wouldn't have riddled him with overpenetrating 117-grain fully jacketed +P loads" as your eulogy?

Imagine. Now if only G8 protesters would throw bricks at Islamofascist terrorists.

Jeff O'Neill

6. Ryan McGreal left...

Re: A Modest Proposal: The Roots Of Terrorism Are Terrorists

Since I'm not a psychologist, I'll set aside O'Neill's deliberately intimidating, unnecessarily detailed description of Mike Marquesee's hypothetical death and focus on his argument.

I can think of four responses:

1) It's possible to despise the terrorist acts of others against us while also despising our own terrorist acts against others. It's called having a single standard of ethics. I'm not going to rehash a century of Western terrorism here; it's all on the public record. Go look it up.

2) In a military engagement (which the pro-war right insists is the right way to respond to terrorism), you have to be able to predict what kind of response your actions will trigger.

The pro-war party line stance in 2002 and early 2003 was that taking out Saddam would somehow make the West safer. Just about every independent analyst on the planet knew better, and said as much to anyone who would listen. The leaders of those countries that joined the invasion knew they were inviting reprisals that would likely target the vulnerable public rather than the carefully protected leaders who made the decision.

When Blair and Bush said they were invading Iraq to keep their citizens safe, they were lying. To the extent that they knew better, it means they decided that exposing the public to terrorist attacks was an acceptable risk of their Middle East plans, which were only superficially about "terrorism" and substantially about protecting the West's most strategic resource.

3) The United States, Britain, etc., use violence all the time to achieve political goals, and it's only through a hypocritical double standard that we label 'their' attacks against civilians "terrorism" but not 'our' attacks against civilians.

I've always believed in the Biblical injunction to 'take the two-by-four out of your own eye before worrying about the toothpick in your neighbour's eye'. That is, I'll feel more comfortable denouncing the atrocities of my enemies when I and my allies have stopped committing atrocities.

4) Do you want to know why there are so many well-trained "Islamofascist terrorists" in the first place? It's because the West cultivated them in the 1980s to undermine the Soviet Union's presence in Afghanistan and give it, in Zbigniew Brzezinski's terms "its Vietnam war". Through the Pakistani ISI, the CIA financed, equipped, and trained the Mujahideen in the techniques of terror; asymmetrical warfare, guerilla strategies and tactics, psychological considerations, etc.

It was the biggest covert operation in CIA history, and it brought together the violent radicals out of the Middle East and gave them a mandate and permission to use terrorism to achieve their goals. After the USSR fell, they simply found a new target and began metastasizing into the loose, distributed movement of today.

In the meantime, the West's continued illegal and atrocious activities in the Middle East (from propping up the despotic governments of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to invading Afghanistan and Iraq to killing tens of thousands of civilians to running tortuous prison camps to re-hiring Saddam's Guard to...) continues to provide both a pool of ready terrorist volunteers and a larger public willing to look the other way.

Does that make the terrorists the "good guys"? Of course not. At the same time, the West will never figure out how to deal with terrorism effectively until we figure out how we keep feeding the system that produces terrorists. Just as the bartender who lets a drunk patron drive home is liable if the patron kills someone, the West is liable for the predictable consequences of its actions.

7. jeff o'neill left...

Notes About The Overnice

I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unpleasant man. I think my superego is dysfunctioning. I think I want to kill people infected by the memes of moral equivalence and circular reasoning. Would any potential soft target really care about the reasons why?

Now, I am no logician but, much like the legal definition of porn, I think I know a straw man fallacy when I see it. The deliberately intimidating and unnecessarily detailed description of Mike Marqusee’s hypothetical death that Ryan McGreal so blithely sets aside is the very crux of my argument, you magnificent dissembling bastard.

It is absolutely precious that Ryan McGreal despises the terrorist acts of others against us while also despising our own “terrorist” acts against others. But, exactly what does it mean to be morally outraged by Afghanistan and Iraq’s murderous and brutally oppressive regimes while simultaneously being opposed to and morally outraged by the efforts to change them? The adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion metastasizes into the smug adult fringe-dweller’s pointless recusancy.

McGreal sounds an awful lot like Groucho Marx in Horsefeathers: “Whatever it is, I’m against it!” Perhaps McGreal should be contracted by the U.N Security Council to help them continue dithering on a definition of terrorism. But what, specifically, is he referring to when he drops the ‘Western Terrorism’ shibboleth? Timothy McVeigh or John Walker Lind? Theodore Kaczynski or Hasan Akbar? The mobs of anti-glob yobs or Richard Reid? Christina Aguilera CDs or Invasion of Space by Female at Gitmo?

If military engagement is not a satisfying response to terrorism, then I implore McGreal to unbusom what alternatives would gratify the punctiliousness of anti-war heroes. Wait… I know… a more sensitive approach to terrorism tempered by moderation and restraint. But what does that entail? Indictments? Therapy? Subpoenas? Rehabilitation? Understanding? More feckless UN resolutions? Perhaps a great big Care Bear Stare for jihadists everywhere?

If Tony Blair is responsible for radical Islam’s response, in the form of the London attacks, to the British effort in Iraq then McGreal and his fellow traveling with a comfort blanket are responsible for what I feel like doing to his carotid artery with my Boker U.S. Mini-Bomber. Nothing to do with me, you see, it’s all on him.

And that is pure nonsense.

So…the root cause of terrorism is fighting against it? Back where we started and here we go ‘round again. Anti-war heroes never actually adopt the lofty moral stances they pretend to espouse so much as they merely baby-sit them. And that is mendacious, low-rent tendentiousness on a month-by-month intellectual lease.

Jeff O’Neill

8. Terry left...

Well said Jeff!!!

Terry Stewart

9. jeff o'neill left...

Thanks Terry. And right back at you.

McGreal has been described as pro-Canadian and anti-American on another blogsite, but I hear he has great advice on how to throw a rather smashing activist street party (e.g. "Decide to do it" and "Don't exhaust yourself trying to plan every aspect of the party"). Oh, and he hates cars. Not Ric Ocasek and The Cars. Just cars. Uh-huh.

Whatever it is, he's against it.

For the record, I am a Canadian (-but don't hold it against me!-) who is eternally embarassed and deeply saddened by my government's decision not to join the coalition of the willing in liberating Iraq from that sandy little butthole Saddam, and the obfuscation our former PM Jean Chretien used to justify...umm...doing nothing.

When discussing what type of proof Canadians supposedly required from the US before assisting in a war with Iraq, the little guy from Shawinigan offered this little nugget of wisdom:

"A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven."

Now, I'm no logician, but I think I can recogonize a tautology when I see one. And they make fun of Bush's malapropisms.

I have never posted on any blogsite before, and kudos to Mr.Strong, but when I discovered that history was repeating itself , and the "Blame America First" mind virus was replicating itself into the "Blame England First" meme before Londoners had a chance to bury their dead, before they even recovered all the bodies from the rubble...well,it really got my blood up.

Check out my response to Kim Peterson's "London Bombings: Why it happened."

Remember the old troglodytic pseudo-justification for rape that women often provoke sexual assault by their very own behaviour, that they are "asking for it" when they wear provocative clothing? That is precisely the type of mentality that these anti-war heroes are engaging in. They are embracing a f*cking rape myth and they're too po-faced and self-absorbed to realize it. And I have them all dead to rights.

A little over the top, I suppose, but then again so is blaming Blair for Al Qaeda's barbarity.

Here's one for the road:

Conspiracy theory is the sophistication of the ignorant.

Anti-Americanism is the sophistry of the arrogant.

And the anti-war hero's reflexive pacifism is the Atkins Diet of the political mind.

Been waiting a long time to rub that one out.

Goodnight folks, and drive safely.

Jeff O'Neill

10. Jeff O'Neill left...

To Ryan McGreal:

How you uh, how you comin' on with that Law degree you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice litte thesis you're working on there? Your big Law degree you've been wishfully thinking about for years? Huh? Gotta… gotta compelling new approach to jurisprudence? Yeah? Gotta thorough understanding of the basic principles of the law, an appreciation of the value of contributing to society through legal service? Huh? Got the ability to research and convey ideas and legal arguments both cogently and coherently? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? Yea, talking about that for years now. Been working on that the whole time? Been developing an understanding of, and an appreciation for, legal ethics and the inherent responsibilities of becoming a member of the legal profession. Yeah? Yeah? No, no, you deserve some time off. Back to organizing street parties and hating cars for you. What's it like to be armed with the knowledge that my Boker and I are in the same time zone? Getting an appreciation of what it is like to be terrorized yet?

Hugs and Kisses

Jeff O'Neill (CounterTerroristUnit)

11. nomorebs left...

This whole incidence sounds too well oiled. There is no way that a bunch of teenagers can even conspired to commit or even execute such devious acts.

This sounds like a job from the secret government agencies!

12. Mark One left...

I believe Mr O'Neill, obviously intelligent as he is, is suffering from the symptoms of that growing Western virus 'pre-9/11 amnesia', whereby all that is done by Western governments/corpocracies since the events of that day can be justified by the same, and all that came before, all the colonial terror that the West in general and the US & UK in particular have inflicted upon the rest of the world, counts for nothing.

It doesn't take much to discover just how much our governments (often at the request of the corporations who so worryingly have an ever increasing influence) have, beyond the horror of war, used covert and overt methods (yes, even 'terrorists' *cof*cof* I mean 'freedom fighters'!) to further their aims and objectives, from Latin America to the Far East and Oceania, at the cost of the lives of many innocents and the destruction of many emerging economies and popular democracies.

These things don't come from nowhere. Of course the unnecessary loss of life in very occasional terrorist attacks like those of recent years cannot be condoned, but it can be seen to be caused by something more than just a fanatical belief in the purity of your religion (if indeed these horrific events were caused by 'Islamofascists')

But for anyone to believe that Bush & Blairs illegal and foolhardy grab at Middle Eastern oilfields (using the unforgiving military might of our countries poor serving the super-rich, leaving hundreds of thousands dead, newly oppressed survivors living in poverty and fear) is a justifiable and recommendable response to the horrific but relatively limited attacks closer to home... well... that just smacks of hypocrisy, naiveté and an ignorant bunker mentality.

Waging infinite war against an invisible enemy where nobody wins except those who line their pockets with the spoils... well, that is going to make the world a safer place isn't it?

You carry on cuddling your Boker, Jeff, if it makes YOU feel safer. We'll be out here trying to make sense of the mess all these fucking bastards have made of things.

13. Jeff O'Neill left...

Dear Mark Une:

Oh dear. More moral equivalence. More selective thinking.

With the SOLE exception of the formal colonial rule in the Philippines, I implore you to give examples of “U.S. Colonialism” that are not radical revisionist history non-starters. Back to modern history 101 for you, sir!

Is it just me or does it seem that Mark Une, on the subject of corporations, seems to be channeling the marionette Tim Robbins:

“Let me explain to you how this works: you see, the corporations finance Team America, and then Team America goes out... and the corporations sit there in their... in their corporation buildings, and... and, and see, they're all corporation-y... and they make money.”

“Maaaat Daaamon…”

This is becoming just way too easy.

On the subject of “VERY OCCASIONAL” and “RELATIVELY LIMITED” terrorist attacks and pre-9/11 amnesia, I don’t suppose you are referring to:

• First U.S. Aircraft Hijacked, May 1, 1961: Puerto Rican born Antuilo Ramierez Ortiz forced at gunpoint a National Airlines plane to fly to Havana, Cuba, where he was given asylum.

Ambassador to Guatemala Assassinated, August 28, 1968: U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala John Gordon Mein was murdered by a rebel faction when gunmen forced his official car off the road in Guatemala City and raked the vehicle with gunfire.

Ambassador to Japan Attacked, July 30, 1969: U.S. Ambassador to Japan A.H. Meyer was attacked by a knife-wielding Japanese citizen.

Ambassador to Brazil Kidnapped, September 3, 1969: U.S. Ambassador to Brazil Charles Burke Elbrick was kidnapped by the Marxist revolutionary group MR-8.

Attack on the Munich Airport, February 10, 1970: Three terrorists attacked El Al passengers in a bus at the Munich Airport with guns and grenades. One passenger was killed and 11 were injured. All three terrorists were captured by airport police. The Action Organization for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.

U.S. Agency for International Development Adviser Kidnapped, July 31, 1970: In Montevideo, Uruguay, the Tupamaros terrorist group kidnapped AID Police adviser Dan Mitrione; his body was found on August 10.

Munich Olympic Massacre, September 5, 1972: Eight Palestinian "Black September" terrorists seized eleven Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village in Munich, West Germany. In a bungled rescue attempt by West German authorities, nine of the hostages and five terrorists were killed.

Ambassador to Sudan Assassinated, March 2, 1973: U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cleo A. Noel and other diplomats were assassinated at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum by members of the Black September organization.

Consul General in Mexico Kidnapped, May 4, 1973: U.S. Consul General in Guadalajara Terrence Leonhardy was kidnapped by members of the People’s Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Attack and Hijacking at the Rome Airport, December 17, 1973: Five terrorists pulled weapons from their luggage in the terminal lounge at the Rome airport, killing two persons. They then attacked a Pan American 707 bound for Beirut and Tehran, destroying it with incendiary grenades and killing 29 persons, including 4 senior Moroccan officials and 14 American employees of ARAMCO. They then herded 5 Italian hostages into a Lufthansa airliner and killed an Italian customs agent as he tried to escape, after which they forced the pilot to fly to Beirut. After Lebanese authorities refused to let the plane land, it landed in Athens, where the terrorists demanded the release of 2 Arab terrorists. In order to make Greek authorities comply with their demands, the terrorists killed a hostage and threw his body onto the tarmac. The plane then flew to Damascus, where it stopped for two hours to obtain fuel and food. It then flew to Kuwait, where the terrorists released their hostages in return for passage to an unknown destination. The Palestine Liberation Organization disavowed the attack, and no group claimed responsibility for it.

Ambassador to Cyprus Assassinated, August 19, 1974: U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus Rodger P. Davies and his Greek Cypriot secretary were shot and killed by snipers during a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Nicosia.

Domestic Terrorism, January 27-29, 1975: Puerto Rican nationalists bombed a Wall Street bar, killing four and injuring 60; two days later, the Weather Underground claims responsibility for an explosion in a bathroom at the U.S. Department of State in Washington.

Entebbe Hostage Crisis, June 27, 1976: Members of the Baader-Meinhof Group and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) seized an Air France airliner and its 258 passengers. They forced the plane to land in Uganda. On July 3 Israeli commandos successfully rescued the passengers.

Assassination of Former Chilean Diplomat, September 21, 1976: Exiled Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier was killed by a car-bomb in Washington. Kidnapping of Italian Prime Minister, March 16, 1978: Premier Aldo Moro was seized by the Red Brigade and assassinated 55 days later.

Ambassador to Afghanistan Assassinated, February 14, 1979: Four Afghans kidnapped U.S. Ambassador Adolph Dubs in Kabul and demanded the release of various "religious figures." Dubs was killed, along with four alleged terrorists, when Afghan police stormed the hotel room where he was being held.

Iran Hostage Crisis, November 4, 1979: After President Carter agreed to admit the Shah of Iran into the US, Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 66 American diplomats hostage. Thirteen hostages were soon released, but the remaining 53 were held until their release on January 20, 1981.

Grand Mosque Seizure, November 20, 1979: 200 Islamic terrorists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, taking hundreds of pilgrims hostage. Saudi and French security forces retook the shrine after an intense battle in which some 250 people were killed and 600 wounded.

U.S. Installation Bombing, August 31, 1981: The Red Army exploded a bomb at the U.S. Air Force Base at Ramstein, West Germany.

Assassination of Egyptian President, October 6, 1981: Soldiers who were secretly members of the Takfir Wal-Hajira sect attacked and killed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a troop review.

Murder of Missionaries, December 4, 1981: Three American nuns and one lay missionary were found murdered outside San Salvador, El Salvador. They were killed by members of the National Guard, and the killers are currently in prison.

Assassination of Lebanese President, September 14, 1982: President Bashir Gemayel was assassinated by a car bomb parked outside his party’s Beirut headquarters.

1983

Colombian Hostage-taking, April 8, 1983: A U.S. citizen was seized by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and held for ransom.

Bombing of U.S. Embassy in Beirut, April 18, 1983: Sixty-three people, including the CIA’s Middle East director, were killed and 120 were injured in a 400-pound suicide truck-bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

Naval Officer Assassinated in El Salvador, May 25, 1983: A U.S. Navy officer was assassinated by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.

North Korean Hit Squad, October 9, 1983: North Korean agents blew up a delegation from South Korea in Rangoon, Burma, killing 21 persons and injuring 48.

Bombing of Marine Barracks, Beirut, October 23, 1983: Simultaneous suicide truck-bomb attacks were made on American and French compounds in Beirut, Lebanon. A 12,000-pound bomb destroyed the U.S. compound, killing 242 Americans, while 58 French troops were killed when a 400-pound device destroyed a French base. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

Naval Officer Assassinated in Greece, November 15, 1983: A U.S. Navy officer was shot by the November 17 terrorist group in Athens, Greece, while his car was stopped at a traffic light.

1984

Kidnapping of Embassy Official, March 16, 1984: The Islamic Jihad kidnapped and later murdered Political Officer William Buckley in Beirut, Lebanon. Other U.S. citizens not connected to the U.S. government were seized over a succeeding two-year period.

Restaurant Bombing in Spain, April 12, 1984: Eighteen U.S. servicemen were killed and 83 people were injured in a bomb attack on a restaurant near a U.S. Air Force Base in Torrejon, Spain.

Temple Seizure, June 5, 1984: Sikh terrorists seized the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. One hundred people died when Indian security forces retook the Sikh holy shrine.

Assassination of Indian Prime Minister, October 31, 1984: Premier Indira Gandhi was shot to death by members of her security force.

1985

Kidnapping of U.S. Officials in Mexico, February 7, 1985: Under the orders of narcotrafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena Salazar and his pilot were kidnapped, tortured and executed.

TWA Hijacking, June 14, 1985: A Trans-World Airlines flight was hijacked en route to Rome from Athens by two Lebanese Hizballah terrorists and forced to fly to Beirut. The eight crew members and 145 passengers were held for seventeen days, during which one American hostage, a U.S. Navy sailor, was murdered. After being flown twice to Algiers, the aircraft was returned to Beirut after Israel released 435 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners.

Attack on a Restaurant in El Salvador, June 19, 1985: Members of the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front) fired on a restaurant in the Zona Rosa district of San Salvador, killing four Marine Security Guards assigned to the U.S. Embassy and nine Salvadorean civilians.

Air India Bombing, June 23, 1985: A bomb destroyed an Air India Boeing 747 over the Atlantic, killing all 329 people aboard. Both Sikh and Kashmiri terrorists were blamed for the attack. Two cargo handlers were killed at Tokyo airport, Japan, when another Sikh bomb exploded in an Air Canada aircraft en route to India.

Soviet Diplomats Kidnapped, September 30, 1985: In Beirut, Lebanon, Sunni terrorists kidnapped four Soviet diplomats. One was killed but three were later released.

Achille Lauro Hijacking, October 7, 1985: Four Palestinian Liberation Front terrorists seized the Italian cruise liner in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, taking more than 700 hostages. One U.S. passenger was murdered before the Egyptian government offered the terrorists safe haven in return for the hostages’ freedom.

Egyptian Airliner Hijacking, November 23, 1985: An EgyptAir airplane bound from Athens to Malta and carrying several U.S. citizens was hijacked by the Abu Nidal Group.

Airport Attacks in Rome and Vienna, December 27, 1985: Four gunmen belonging to the Abu Nidal Organization attacked the El Al and Trans World Airlines ticket counters at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport with grenades and automatic rifles. Thirteen persons were killed and 75 were wounded before Italian police and Israeli security guards killed three of the gunmen and captured the fourth. Three more Abu Nidal gunmen attacked the El Al ticket counter at Vienna’s Schwechat Airport, killing three persons and wounding 30. Austrian police killed one of the gunmen and captured the others.

1986

Aircraft Bombing in Greece, March 30, 1986: A Palestinian splinter group detonated a bomb as TWA Flight 840 approached Athens airport, killing four U.S. citizens.

Berlin Discothèque Bombing, April 5, 1986: Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 79 American servicemen were injured in a Libyan bomb attack on a nightclub in West Berlin, West Germany. In retaliation U.S. military jets bombed targets in and around Tripoli and Benghazi.

Kimpo Airport Bombing, September 14, 1986: North Korean agents detonated an explosive device at Seoul’s Kimpo airport, killing 5 persons and injuring 29 others.

1987

Bus Attack, April 24, 1987: Sixteen U.S. servicemen riding in a Greek Air Force bus near Athens were injured in an apparent bombing attack, carried out by the revolutionary organization known as November 17.

Downing of Airliner, November 29, 1987: North Korean agents planted a bomb aboard Korean Air Lines Flight 858, which subsequently crashed into the Indian Ocean. Servicemen’s Bar Attack, December 26, 1987: Catalan separatists bombed a Barcelona bar frequented by U.S. servicemen, resulting in the death of one U.S. citizen.

1988

Kidnapping of William Higgins, February 17, 1988: U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel W. Higgins was kidnapped and murdered by the Iranian-backed Hizballah group while serving with the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organization (UNTSO) in southern Lebanon.

Naples USO Attack, April 14, 1988: The Organization of Jihad Brigades exploded a car-bomb outside a USO Club in Naples, Italy, killing one U.S. sailor.

Attack on U.S. Diplomat in Greece, June 28, 1988: The Defense Attaché of the U.S. Embassy in Greece was killed when a car-bomb was detonated outside his home in Athens.

Pan Am 103 Bombing, December 21, 1988: Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb believed to have been placed on the aircraft by Libyan terrorists in Frankfurt, West Germany. All 259 people on board were killed.

1989

Assassination of U.S. Army Officer, April 21, 1989: The New People’s Army (NPA) assassinated Colonel James Rowe in Manila. The NPA also assassinated two U.S. government defense contractors in September.

Bombing of UTA Flight 772, September 19, 1989: A bomb explosion destroyed UTA Flight 772 over the Sahara Desert in southern Niger during a flight from Brazzaville to Paris. All 170 persons aboard were killed. Six Libyans were later found guilty in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Assassination of German Bank Chairman, November 30, 1989: The Red Army Faction assassinated Deutsche Bank Chairman Alfred Herrhausen in Frankfurt.

1990

U.S. Embassy Bombed in Peru, January 15, 1990: The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement bombed the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru.

U.S. Soldiers Assassinated in the Philippines, May 13, 1990: The New People’s Army (NPA) killed two U.S. Air Force personnel near Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines.

1991

Attempted Iraqi Attacks on U.S. Posts, January 18-19, 1991: Iraqi agents planted bombs at the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia’s home residence and at the USIS library in Manila.

Sniper Attack on the U.S. Embassy in Bonn, February 13, 1991: Three Red Army Faction members fired automatic rifles from across the Rhine River at the U.S. Embassy Chancery. No one was hurt.

Assassination of former Indian Prime Minister, May 21, 1991: A female member of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) killed herself, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and 16 others by detonating an explosive vest after presenting a garland of flowers to the former Prime Minister during an election rally in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

1992

Kidnapping of U.S. Businessmen in the Philippines, January 17-21, 1992: A senior official of the corporation Philippine Geothermal was kidnapped in Manila by the Red Scorpion Group, and two U.S. businessmen were seized independently by the National Liberation Army and by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, March 17, 1992: Hizballah claimed responsibility for a blast that leveled the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, causing the deaths of 29 and wounding 242.

1993

Kidnappings of U.S. Citizens in Colombia, January 31, 1993: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) terrorists kidnapped three U.S. missionaries.

World Trade Center Bombing, February 26, 1993: The World Trade Center in New York City was badly damaged when a car bomb planted by Islamic terrorists exploded in an underground garage. The bomb left 6 people dead and 1,000 injured. The men carrying out the attack were followers of Umar Abd al-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who preached in the New York City area.

Attempted Assassination of President Bush by Iraqi Agents, April 14, 1993: The Iraqi intelligence service attempted to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait. In retaliation, the U.S. launched a cruise missile attack 2 months later on the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

1994

Hebron Massacre, February 25, 1994: Jewish right-wing extremist and U.S. citizen Baruch Goldstein machine-gunned Moslem worshippers at a mosque in West Bank town of Hebron, killing 29 and wounding about 150.

FARC Hostage-taking, September 23, 1994: FARC rebels kidnapped U.S. citizen Thomas Hargrove in Colombia. Air France Hijacking, December 24, 1994: Members of the Armed Islamic Group seized an Air France Flight to Algeria. The four terrorists were killed during a rescue effort.

1995

Attack on U.S. Diplomats in Pakistan, March 8, 1995: Two unidentified gunmen killed two U.S. diplomats and wounded a third in Karachi, Pakistan.

Kashmiri Hostage-taking, July 4, 1995: In India six foreigners, including two U.S. citizens, were taken hostage by Al-Faran, a Kashmiri separatist group. One non-U.S. hostage was later found beheaded.

Jerusalem Bus Attack, August 21, 1995: HAMAS claimed responsibility for the detonation of a bomb that killed 6 and injured over 100 persons, including several U.S. citizens.

Attack on U.S. Embassy in Moscow, September 13, 1995: A rocket-propelled grenade was fired through the window of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, ostensibly in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Serb positions in Bosnia.

Saudi Military Installation Attack, November 13, 1995: The Islamic Movement of Change planted a bomb in a Riyadh military compound that killed one U.S. citizen, several foreign national employees of the U.S. government, and over 40 others.

Egyptian Embassy Attack, November 19, 1995: A suicide bomber drove a vehicle into the Egyptian Embassy compound in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 16 and injuring 60 persons. Three militant Islamic groups claimed responsibility.

1996

Papuan Hostage Abduction, January 8, 1996: In Indonesia, 200 Free Papua Movement (OPM) guerrillas abducted 26 individuals in the Lorenta nature preserve, Irian Jaya Province. Indonesian Special Forces members rescued the remaining nine hostages on May 15.

Kidnapping in Colombia, January 19, 1996: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas kidnapped a US citizen and demanded a $1 million ransom. The hostage was released on May 22.

Tamil Tigers Attack, January 31, 1996: Members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rammed an explosives-laden truck into the Central Bank in the heart of downtown Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 90 civilians and injuring more than 1,400 others, including 2 US citizens.

IRA Bombing, February 9, 1996: An Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb detonated in London, killing 2 persons and wounding more than 100 others, including 2 U.S. citizens.

Athens Embassy Attack, February 15, 1996: Unidentified assailants fired a rocket at the U.S. Embassy compound in Athens, causing minor damage to three diplomatic vehicles and some surrounding buildings. Circumstances of the attack suggested it was an operation carried out by the 17 November group.

ELN Kidnapping, February 16, 1996: Six alleged National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas kidnapped a U.S. citizen in Colombia. After 9 months, the hostage was released.

HAMAS Bus Attack, February 26, 1996: In Jerusalem, a suicide bomber blew up a bus, killing 26 persons, including three U.S. citizens, and injuring some 80 persons, including three other US citizens.

Dizengoff Center Bombing, March 4, 1996: HAMAS and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) both claimed responsibility for a bombing outside of Tel Aviv's largest shopping mall that killed 20 persons and injured 75 others, including 2 U.S. citizens.

West Bank Attack, May 13, 1996: Arab gunmen opened fire on a bus and a group of Yeshiva students near the Bet El settlement, killing a dual U.S./Israeli citizen and wounding three Israelis. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but HAMAS was suspected.

AID Worker Abduction, May 31, 1996: A gang of former Contra guerrillas kidnapped a U.S. employee of the Agency for International Development (AID) who was assisting with election preparations in rural northern Nicaragua. She was released unharmed the next day after members of the international commission overseeing the preparations intervened.

Zekharya Attack, June 9, 1996: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a car near Zekharya, killing a dual U.S./Israeli citizen and an Israeli. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was suspected.

Khobar Towers Bombing, June 25, 1996: A fuel truck carrying a bomb exploded outside the US military's Khobar Towers housing facility in Dhahran, killing 19 U.S. military personnel and wounding 515 persons, including 240 U.S. personnel. Several groups claimed responsibility for the attack.

ETA Bombing, July 20, 1996: A bomb exploded at Tarragona International Airport in Reus, Spain, wounding 35 persons, including British and Irish tourists. The Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) organization was suspected.

Bombing of Archbishop of Oran, August 1, 1996: A bomb exploded at the home of the French Archbishop of Oran, killing him and his chauffeur. The attack occurred after the Archbishop's meeting with the French Foreign Minister. The Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) is suspected.

Sudanese Rebel Kidnapping, August 17, 1996: Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels kidnapped six missionaries in Mapourdit, including a U.S. citizen, an Italian, three Australians, and a Sudanese. The SPLA released the hostages 11 days later.

PUK Kidnapping, September 13, 1996: In Iraq, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) militants kidnapped four French workers for Pharmaciens Sans Frontieres, a Canadian United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official, and two Iraqis.

Assassination of South Korean Consul, October 1, 1996: In Vladivostok, Russia, assailants attacked and killed a South Korean consul near his home. No one claimed responsibility, but South Korean authorities believed that the attack was carried out by professionals and that the assailants were North Koreans. North Korean officials denied the country's involvement in the attack.

Red Cross Worker Kidnappings, November 1, 1996: In Sudan a breakaway group from the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) kidnapped three International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) workers, including a U.S. citizen, an Australian, and a Kenyan. On 9 December the rebels released the hostages in exchange for ICRC supplies and a health survey for their camp.

Paris Subway Explosion, December 3, 1996: A bomb exploded aboard a Paris subway train as it arrived at the Port Royal station, killing two French nationals, a Moroccan, and a Canadian, and injuring 86 persons. Among those injured were one U.S. citizen and a Canadian. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Algerian extremists are suspected.

Abduction of US. Citizen by FARC, December 11, 1996: Five armed men claiming to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) kidnapped and later killed a U.S. geologist at a methane gas exploration site in La Guajira Department.

Tupac Amaru Seizure of Diplomats, December 17, 1996: Twenty-three members of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) took several hundred people hostage at a party given at the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru. Among the hostages were several US officials, foreign ambassadors and other diplomats, Peruvian Government officials, and Japanese businessmen. The group demanded the release of all MRTA members in prison and safe passage for them and the hostage takers. The terrorists released most of the hostages in December but held 81 Peruvians and Japanese citizens for several months.

1997

Egyptian Letter Bombs, January 2-13, 1997: A series of letter bombs with Alexandria, Egypt, postmarks were discovered at Al-Hayat newspaper bureaus in Washington, New York City, London, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Three similar devices, also postmarked in Egypt, were found at a prison facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. Bomb disposal experts defused all the devices, but one detonated at the Al-Hayat office in London, injuring two security guards and causing minor damage.

Tajik Hostage Abductions, February 4-17, 1997: Near Komsomolabad, Tajikistan, a paramilitary group led by Bakhrom Sodirov abducted four United Nations (UN) military observers. The victims included two Swiss, one Austrian, one Ukrainian, and their Tajik interpreter. The kidnappers demanded safe passage for their supporters from Afghanistan to Tajikistan. In four separate incidents occurring between Dushanbe and Garm, Bakhrom Sodirov and his group kidnapped two International Committee for the Red Cross members, four Russian journalists and their Tajik driver, four UNHCR members, and the Tajik Security Minister, Saidamir Zukhurov.

Venezuelan Abduction, February 14, 1997: Six armed Colombian guerrillas kidnapped a US oil engineer and his Venezuelan pilot in Apure, Venezuela. The kidnappers released the Venezuelan pilot on 22 February. According to authorities, the FARC is responsible for the kidnapping.

Empire State Building Sniper Attack, February 23, 1997: A Palestinian gunman opened fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland, and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine."

ELN Kidnapping, February 24, 1997: National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas kidnapped a U.S. citizen employed by a Las Vegas gold corporation who was scouting a gold mining operation in Colombia. The ELN demanded a ransom of $2.5 million.

FARC Kidnapping, March 7, 1997: FARC guerrillas kidnapped a U.S. mining employee and his Colombian colleague who were searching for gold in Colombia. On November 16, the rebels released the two hostages after receiving a $50,000 ransom.

Hotel Nacional Bombing, July 12, 1997: A bomb exploded at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, injuring three persons and causing minor damage. A previously unknown group calling itself the Military Liberation Union claimed responsibility.

Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing, September 4, 1997: Three suicide bombers of HAMAS detonated bombs in the Ben Yehuda shopping mall in Jerusalem, killing eight persons, including the bombers, and wounding nearly 200 others. A dual U.S./Israeli citizen was among the dead, and 7 U.S. citizens were wounded.

OAS Abductions, October 23, 1997: In Colombia ELN rebels kidnapped two foreign members of the Organization of American States (OAS) and a Colombian human rights official at a roadblock. The ELN claimed that the kidnapping was intended "to show the international community that the elections in Colombia are a farce."

Yemeni Kidnappings, October 30, 1997: Al-Sha'if tribesmen kidnapped a U.S. businessman near Sanaa. The tribesmen sought the release of two fellow tribesmen who were arrested on smuggling charges and several public works projects they claim the government promised them. They released the hostage on November 27.

Murder of U.S. Businessmen in Pakistan, November 12, 1997: Two unidentified gunmen shot to death four U.S. auditors from Union Texas Petroleum Corporation and their Pakistani driver after they drove away from the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi. The Islami Inqilabi Council, or Islamic Revolutionary Council, claimed responsibility in a call to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi. In a letter to Pakistani newspapers, the Aimal Khufia Action Committee also claimed responsibility.

Tourist Killings in Egypt, November 17, 1997: Al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya (IG) gunmen shot and killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians and wounded 26 others at the Hatshepsut Temple in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Thirty-four Swiss, eight Japanese, five Germans, four Britons, one French, one Colombian, a dual Bulgarian/British citizen, and four unidentified persons were among the dead. Twelve Swiss, two Japanese, two Germans, one French, and nine Egyptians were among the wounded.

1998

UN Observer Abductions, February 19, 1998: Armed supporters of late Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia abducted four UN military observers from Sweden, Uruguay, and the Czech Republic.

FARC Abduction, March 21-23, 1998: FARC rebels kidnapped a US citizen in Sabaneta, Colombia. FARC members also killed three persons, wounded 14, and kidnapped at least 27 others at a roadblock near Bogota. Four U.S. citizens and one Italian were among those kidnapped, as well as the acting president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) and his wife.

Somali Hostage-takings, April 15, 1998: Somali militiamen abducted nine Red Cross and Red Crescent workers at an airstrip north of Mogadishu. The hostages included a U.S. citizen, a German, a Belgian, a French, a Norwegian, two Swiss, and one Somali. The gunmen were members of a sub-clan loyal to Ali Mahdi Mohammed, who controlled the northern section of the capital.

U.S. Embassy Bombings in East Africa, August 7, 1998: A bomb exploded at the rear entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 12 U.S. citizens, 32 Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), and 247 Kenyan citizens. Approximately 5,000 Kenyans, 6 U.S. citizens, and 13 FSNs were injured. The U.S. Embassy building sustained extensive structural damage. Almost simultaneously, a bomb detonated outside the U.S.

Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 7 FSNs and 3 Tanzanian citizens, and injuring 1 U.S. citizen and 76 Tanzanians. The explosion caused major structural damage to the U.S. Embassy facility. The U.S. Government held Usama Bin Laden responsible.

Colombian Pipeline Bombing, October 18, 1998: A National Liberation Army (ELN) planted bomb exploded on the Ocensa pipeline in Antioquia Department, killing approximately 71 persons and injuring at least 100 others. The pipeline is jointly owned by the Colombia State Oil Company Ecopetrol and a consortium including U.S., French, British, and Canadian companies.

Armed Kidnapping in Colombia, November 15, 1998: Armed assailants followed a U.S. businessman and his family home in Cundinamarca Department and kidnapped his 11-year-old son after stealing money, jewelry, one automobile, and two cell phones. The kidnappers demanded $1 million in ransom. On January 21, 1999, the kidnappers released the boy.

1999

Angolan Aircraft Downing, January 2, 1999: A UN plane carrying one U.S. citizen, four Angolans, two Philippine nationals and one Namibian was shot down, according to a UN official. No deaths or injuries were reported. Angolan authorities blamed the attack on National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebels. UNITA officials denied shooting down the plane.

Ugandan Rebel Attack, February 14, 1999: A pipe bomb exploded inside a bar, killing five persons and injuring 35 others. One Ethiopian and four Ugandan nationals died in the blast, and one U.S. citizen working for USAID, two Swiss nationals, one Pakistani, one Ethiopian, and 27 Ugandans were injured. Ugandan authorities blamed the attack on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Greek Embassy Seizure, February 16, 1999: Kurdish protesters stormed and occupied the Greek Embassy in Vienna, taking the Greek Ambassador and six other persons hostage. Several hours later the protesters released the hostages and left the Embassy. The attack followed the Turkish Government's announcement of the successful capture of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. Kurds also occupied Kenyan, Israeli, and other Greek diplomatic facilities in France, Holland, Switzerland, Britain, and Germany over the following days.

FARC Kidnappings, February 25, 1999: FARC kidnapped three U.S. citizens working for the Hawaii-based Pacific Cultural Conservancy International. On March 4, the bodies of the three victims were found in Venezuela.

Hutu Abductions, March 1, 1999: 150 armed Hutu rebels attacked three tourist camps in Uganda, killed four Ugandans, and abducted three U.S. citizens, six Britons, three New Zealanders, two Danish citizens, one Australian, and one Canadian national. Two of the U.S. citizens and six of the other hostages were subsequently killed by their abductors.

ELN Hostage-taking, March 23, 1999: Armed guerrillas kidnapped a U.S. citizen in Boyaca, Colombia. The National Liberation Army (ELN) claimed responsibility and demanded $400,000 ransom. On 20 July, ELN rebels released the hostage unharmed following a ransom payment of $48,000.

ELN Hostage-taking, May 30, 1999: In Cali, Colombia, armed ELN militants attacked a church in the neighborhood of Ciudad Jardin, kidnapping 160 persons, including six U.S. citizens and one French national. The rebels released approximately 80 persons, including three U.S. citizens, later that day.

Shell Platform Bombing, June 27, 1999: In Port Harcourt, Nigeria, armed youths stormed a Shell oil platform, kidnapping one U.S. citizen, one Nigerian national, and one Australian citizen, and causing undetermined damage. A group calling itself "Enough is Enough in the Niger River" claimed responsibility. Further seizures of oil facilities followed.

AFRC Kidnappings, August 4, 1999: An Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) faction kidnapped 33 UN representatives near Occra Hills, Sierra Leone. The hostages included one U.S. citizen, five British soldiers, one Canadian citizen, one representative from Ghana, one military officer from Russia, one officer from Kyrgystan, one officer from Zambia, one officer from Malaysia, a local Bishop, two UN officials, two local journalists, and 16 Sierra Leonean nationals.

Burmese Embassy Seizure, October 1, 1999: Burmese dissidents seized the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, taking 89 persons hostage, including one U.S. citizen.

PLA Kidnapping, December 23, 1999: Colombian People’s Liberation Army (PLA) forces kidnapped a U.S. citizen in an unsuccessful ransoming effort.

Indian Airlines Airbus Hijacking, December 24, 1999: Five militants hijacked a flight bound from Katmandu to New Delhi carrying 189 people. The plane and its passengers were released unharmed on December 31.

2000

Car bombing in Spain, January 27, 2000: Police officials reported unidentified individuals set fire to a Citroen car dealership in Iturreta, causing extensive damage to the building and destroying 12 vehicles. The attack bore the hallmark of the Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA).

RUF Attacks on U.N. Mission Personnel, May 1, 2000: On 1 May in Makeni, Sierra Leone, Revolutionary United Front (RUF) militants kidnapped at least 20 members of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) and surrounded and opened fire on a UNAMSIL facility, according to press reports. The militants killed five UN soldiers in the attack. RUF militants kidnapped 300 UNAMSIL peacekeepers throughout the country, according to press reports. On 15 May in Foya, Liberia, the kidnappers released 139 hostages.

On 28 May, on the Liberia and Sierra Leone border, armed militants released unharmed the last of the UN peacekeepers. In Freetown, according to press reports, armed militants ambushed two military vehicles carrying four journalists. A Spaniard and one U.S. citizen were killed in a May 25 car bombing in Freetown for which the RUF was probably responsible. Suspected RUF rebels also kidnapped 21 Indian UN peacekeepers in Freetown on June 6. Additional attacks by RUF on foreign personnel followed.

Diplomatic Assassination in Greece, June 8, 2000: In Athens, Greece, two unidentified gunmen killed British Defense Attaché Stephen Saunders in an ambush. The Revolutionary Organization 17 November claimed responsibility.

ELN Kidnapping, June 27, 2000: In Bogota, Colombia, ELN militants kidnapped a 5-year-old U.S. citizen and his Colombian mother, demanding an undisclosed ransom. Kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan, August 12, 2000: In the Kara-Su Valley, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan took four U.S. citizens hostage. The Americans escaped on August 12.

Church Bombing in Tajikistan, October 1, 2000: Unidentified militants detonated two bombs in a Christian church in Dushanbe, killing seven persons and injuring 70 others. The church was founded by a Korean-born U.S. citizen, and most of those killed and wounded were Korean. No one claimed responsibility.

Helicopter Hijacking, October 12, 2000: In Sucumbios Province, Ecuador, a group of armed kidnappers led by former members of defunct Colombian terrorist organization the Popular Liberation Army (EPL), took hostage 10 employees of Spanish energy consortium REPSOL. Those kidnapped included five U.S. citizens, one Argentine, one Chilean, one New Zealander, and two French pilots who escaped four days later. On January 30, 2001, the kidnappers murdered American hostage Ronald Sander. The remaining hostages were released on February 23 following the payment of $13 million in ransom by the oil companies.

Attack on U.S.S. Cole, October 12, 2000: In Aden, Yemen, a small dingy carrying explosives rammed the destroyer U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others. Supporters of Usama Bin Laden were suspected.

Manila Bombing, December 30, 2000: A bomb exploded in a plaza across the street from the U.S. Embassy in Manila, injuring nine persons. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front was likely responsible.

2001

Srinagar Airport Attack and Assassination Attempt, January 17, 2001: In India, six members of the Lashkar-e-Tayyba militant group were killed when they attempted to seize a local airport. Members of Hizbul Mujaheddin fired two rifle grenades at Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister for Jammu and Kashmir. Two persons were wounded in the unsuccessful assassination attempt.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, March 4, 2001: A suicide bomb attack in Netanya killed 3 persons and wounded 65. HAMAS later claimed responsibility.

ETA Bombing, March 9, 2001: Two policemen were killed by the explosion of a car bomb in Hernani, Spain.

Airliner Hijacking in Istanbul, March 15, 2001: Three Chechens hijacked a Russian airliner during a flight from Istanbul to Moscow and forced it to fly to Medina, Saudi Arabia. The plane carried 162 passengers and a crew of 12. After a 22-hour siege during which more than 40 passengers were released, Saudi security forces stormed the plane, killing a hijacker, a passenger, and a flight attendant.

Bus Stop Bombing, April 22, 2001: A member of HAMAS detonated a bomb he was carrying near a bus stop in Kfar Siva, Israel, killing one person and injuring 60.

Philippines Hostage Incident, May 27, 2001: Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas seized 13 tourists and 3 staff members at a resort on Palawan Island and took their captives to Basilan Island. The captives included three U.S. citizens: Guellermo Sobero and missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham. Philippine troops fought a series of battles with the guerrillas between June 1 and June 3 during which 9 hostages escaped and two were found dead. The guerrillas took additional hostages when they seized the hospital in the town of Lamitan. On June 12, Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya claimed that Sobero had been killed and beheaded; his body was found in October. The Burnhams remained in captivity until June 2002.

Tel-Aviv Nightclub Bombing, June 1, 2001: HAMAS claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of a popular Israeli nightclub that caused over 140 casualties.

HAMAS Restaurant Bombing, August 9, 2001: A HAMAS-planted bomb detonated in a Jerusalem pizza restaurant, killing 15 people and wounding more than 90. The Israeli response included occupation of Orient House, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s political headquarters in East Jerusalem.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, September 9, 2001: The first suicide bombing carried out by an Israeli Arab killed 3 persons in Nahariya. HAMAS claimed responsibility.

Death of "the Lion of the Panjshir", September 9, 2001: Two suicide bombers fatally wounded Ahmed Shah Massoud, a leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, which had opposed both the Soviet occupation and the post-Soviet Taliban government. The bombers posed as journalists and were apparently linked to al-Qaida. The Northern Alliance did not confirm Massoud’s death until September 15.

Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Homeland, September 11, 2001: Two hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Soon thereafter, the Pentagon was struck by a third hijacked plane. A fourth hijacked plane, suspected to be bound for a high-profile target in Washington, crashed into a field in southern Pennsylvania. The attacks killed 3,025 U.S. citizens and other nationals. President Bush and Cabinet officials indicated that Usama Bin Laden was the prime suspect and that they considered the United States in a state of war with international terrorism. In the aftermath of the attacks, the United States formed the Global Coalition Against Terrorism.

How long have you been cultivating this distaste for empiricism? How do you breath after you bundle yourself in a Gladwrap veil of ignorance?

This is becoming rather a lot like throwing matches at the Hindenburg. Any serious critical thinkers out there? I’m bored.

But at least we have anti-war heroes like Mark Une to “make sense of things.” Whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. Do you hate cars? What heats your home? What powers your automobile? What provides you with hot water? Where’s your precious moral equivalence at now? What fuels an economy that has pulled billions of people out of poverty in the developing nations?

“Maaaaat Daaaamon….”

Hugs and Kisses Yours etc. Jeff O’Neill (CounterTerroristUnit)

14. Jeff O'Neill left...

Goodbye edstrong.blog-city.com. It was fun while it lasted.

Jeff

15. Mark One left...

Point taken Jeff... there's been a lot of this terrorism about. Some of it by idealogical fanatics, some of it by religious loonies, some of it by groups funded by the CIA and some of it by people with a genuine grievance whose cause was just but methods were questionable.

Throwing bombs and guns at 'terrorism' and invading other countries who allegedly may have at one point had terrorists in their midst doesn't help one jot though. Do you think that is what has helped in the peace process of the Northern Ireland situation?

And in answer to your questions:

(1) Cars are noisy and smelly and have come to dictate everyone's way of life. I'm kept awake at night by bloody car alarms, as well as global warming. So yes I hate cars.

(2) I am on a 'Green Plan' so the power to my home is provided by renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and hydro-electric power.

(3) I don't have an automobile. See (1)

(4) Hot water? See (2)

(5) My precious moral equivalence is in the same place it has always been.

(6) The oil economy is starting to die as the liquid gold runs out. Western consumerist civilisation will die if it doesn't change it's reliance on the black stuff, and indeed it's very MO. Billions will descend back into poverty (those lucky ones who escaped from it in the first place that is). All that is happening now is indicative of the start of the death throes. You can try to prop up an ailing system with guns and bombs but in the end something has got to give.

16. Ryan McGreal left...

John O'Neill writes: "So…the root cause of terrorism is fighting against it?" He must be demonstrating his recognition of the straw man fallacy here, because that's not what I said. I don't believe the London train bombs were a legitimate response to Western atrocities abroad, any more than I believe the September 11, 2001 airplane attacks were a legitimate response. In fact, I made a point of arguing that violent atrocities are unjustifiable.

However, the Iraq war was not about "fighting against" terrorism. It was a straightforward colonial invasion, employing all the usual tactics - military attacks, psychological warfare, propaganda, terrorism, extended suspension of basic rights, torture, etc. U.S. foreign policy isn't "fighting against" terrorism; it is terrorism.

The real root cause of al-Qaeda terrorism is America's efforts to create a group of well-trained, well-equipped militants to undermine the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda is blowback - we created that monster, only it has since learned now to create more of itself.

I can't imagine O'Neill's too stupid to understand that Iraq had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. His liberal use of grandiloquent locutions - i.e. big words - demonstrates that he has a sophisticated grasp of language. He complains about infection by memes but then litters his own angry, vitriolic dispatches with clusters of them ("moral equivalence", "adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion", "dithering", etc.). He calls his distortion of my argument "mendacious, low-rent tendentiousness on a month-by-month intellectual lease" but refuses to recognize the obvious fact that yanks the rug from everything else he writes: Iraq was never associated with our terrorist enemies.

I can only assume he's either too blinded by ideology to see it, or else belligerent enough to swallow the facts in the face of a fight. Goodness knows he's damn quick to jump on metaphors of violence to make, illustrate, and flavour his arguments.

He starts his response with some customary bullying noises and then settles into his thesis:

"It is absolutely precious that Ryan McGreal despises the terrorist acts of others against us while also despising our own 'terrorist' acts against others. But, exactly what does it mean to be morally outraged by Afghanistan and Iraq’s murderous and brutally oppressive regimes while simultaneously being opposed to and morally outraged by the efforts to change them?"

Talk about dissembling. We're not trying to change "Afghanistan and Iraq's murderous and brutally oppressive regimes". We're trying to create obedient client states that serve our interests. If they happen to be less despotic than their predecessors, so much the better, but as our continued support for the "murderous and brutally oppressive regimes" in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and elsewhere demonstrates, that's not why we invade countries.

O'Neill writes, "If military engagement is not a satisfying response to terrorism, then I implore McGreal to unbusom what alternatives would gratify the punctiliousness of anti-war heroes." Again demonstrating how the straw man fallacy works, he goes on to answer his own question and then chew it up, so I'll try to provide a real answer.

1. Stop supporting terrrorists.

The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. If it takes a - let me get the phrase right - a "magnificent dissembling bastard" to point this out, then the tough-guy realists who cheered this war so vigorously from the sidelines are more naive than I thought. The pro-war set hasn't picked up on this yet, because would force them to admit they've been supporting terrorists - including the terrorist who struck America in September 2001 - for decades. Oops. They're too busy financing the next group of terrorists (Northern Resistance, Mujahedin-e Kalq, the Chechen rebels) in order to mortgage more future security for narrow strategic objectives.

2. Stop subsidizing the oil economy.

America has about the highest per capita oil consumption in the world (Canada's per capita consumption is equivalent, so my comments here apply north of the border as well). This is largely due to the many ways the U.S. government, that champion of free markets, masively subsidizes both oil and the industrial infrastructure that runs on oil. Cars are really convenient ways of getting around, but they entail tremendous costs that are currently sopped up by government spending or externalized. If drivers had to pay the real cost of driving, people would do a lot less of it, the transportation economy would be more diverse, and America wouldn't be so dependent on oil.

3. Stop trying to control the Middle East.

An obvious corrolary to #2. If America wasn't so dependent on oil (U.S. production peaked in 1970, and America imports about 2/3 of its oil today), it would have such a strategic interest in controlling the countries that produce it. The pressure to control the Middle East will only increase as non-OPEC oil peaks and the balance of global production shifts further to the Middle East.

The more America and its allies try to manage the Middle East using violent, heavy-handed means, the more people will decide to join the already existing network of terrorists dedicated to America's withdrawal from the Middle East. The invasion of Iraq - illegal, based almost entirely on lies, strictly irrelevant to the so-called "War on Terror" - was a dramatic escalation in America's long-term Middle Eastern oil strategy, and hence represented a new front for the terrorists to join and exploit.

As long as America refuses to do these things, any other efforts it makes - either authentic efforts like information sharing between agencies and governments, securing borders, etc. or inauthentic efforts like invading countries that have nothing to do with the al-Qaeda - will be forever undermined by the larger context of its foreign policy.

17. Jeff O'Neill left...

I said I wouldn't post anymore. Cher said she'd bloody well retire. Oh well.

Jeff O’Neill : Weaver Stance (for Venus McGreal)

Mouth-breathing designer tribalist

Brow-beating granola activist

Lotus-eating blasé nihilist

Bottom-feeding guerilla anarchist

Idiots praise in enthusiastic tone

All cultures but this every country but their own

With brutal pendantry militant mendacity

Mindless sloganeering and Maoist fury

True believing New Age mysticist

Doublethinking deconstructionist

Self-deceiving commie apologist

Wishful-thinking po-faced pacifist

Idiots praise in enthusiastic tone

All cultures but this every country but their own

With seething sub-demotic psychotic vulgarity

Your phyrric victories end when I’ll be:

Creeping up behind you in a Weaver Stance

With a .40 cal. Glock cocked between my hands

You’ll be the cursing the day you laid your eyes on me

When I’m garroting your carotid artery

The end of history:a vigilante of the West

Wadcutters expanding deep in your chest

Lying face down in a pool of red

With a claw hammer sticking out of the back of your head

Bien pensant Tier mondiste

Mau-mauing multiculturalist

Soi-dissant Rive gauchiste

Kow-towing antiglobalist

Idiots praise in enthusiastic tone

All cultures but this every country but their own

With brutal pendantry militant mendacity

Mindless sloganeering and Maoist fury

Knuckle-dragging sandbagging

Armchair radical malcontent

Fifth column caballing

Blackballing manufactured dissent

Idiots praise in enthusiastic tone

All cultures but this every country but their own

With seething sub-demotic psychotic vulgarity

Your phyrric victories end when I’ll be:

Creeping up behind you in a Weaver Stance

With a .40 cal. Glock cocked between my hands

You’ll be the cursing the day you laid your eyes on me

When I’m garroting your carotid artery

The end of history: a vigilante of the West

Wadcutters expanding deep in your chest

Lying face down in a pool of red

With a claw hammer sticking out of the back of your head

18. Jeff O'Neill left...

Hey! Mars to Venus: Back the fuck off.

Venus McGreal, enumerating your paragraphs does not lend any weight whatsoever to your limp-wristed perceptions. However, it is absolutely hilarious, it is too cute by half that you are obviously smug enough to feel as though you are offering the Wittgenstein’s Tractatus of anti-war hero manifestos. Yes Venus, that was the sound of another reference flying way over your head.

You stupid cunt.

Venus McGreal, a meme is a unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is replicated by verbal transmission or by repeated action from one mind to another, usually without any rational foundation. The St. Jude chain letter was a meme. The Atkins Diet is a powerful example of an insidious meme. The notion that horoscopes provide useful information about the future is a meme. The hoax that 4,000 Jews called in sick to their World Trade Center jobs on Sept. 11 was a meme that many visitors to this site are all too familiar with. Merely placing inverted commas around my grandiloquent locutions does not a meme make.

You stupid, culturally illiterate cunt.

Venus McGreal, I am no psychiatrist, but with each and every post you exhibit evidence of being controlled by a fixed idea. Your predictable phalanxes of disingenuousness and blathering self-righteousness forever revolve around American oil consumption. Researchers define ‘fixed idea’ as: an idea, or line of thought, often emotionally entrenched, or even obsessional, which exercises a dominating influence, persistent or recurrent, on a person’s attitude and mental life. A fixed idea is an exaggerated notion, belief, or delusion that persists, despite evidence to the contrary, and controls the mind, the obstinate conviction of a very silly person regarding the correctness of his delusion. And that aptly describes the grandstanding self-certainty of your supposed virtuosity in the very wicked world that only the rest of us apparently inhabit.

You’re like one of those Magic 8 Ball novelty toys that is forever stuck in one position. You’re the Tom Cruise of the anti-war hero set, but instead of professing PR love for Katie, you’re jumping up and down on the coach hating The Cars.

Remember when Abe Simpson made the Springfield broadsheet? “Angry Man Yells At Cloud.” Researchers define whining as a "long or repeated expression of discontent not necessarily intended to change or improve the supposedly unsatisfactory situation. What alternative is there to the Oil Economy? The Windmill Economy? I hope there’s a rickshaw nearby when the paramedics need to cart you off in order to remove the claw hammer sticking out of the back of your head.

You stupid, culturally illiterate, pretentious cunt.

Venus McGreal, not another comfortably lobotomized trip down memory lane? History with a comfort blanket and an ideological soother.

Venus McGreal, yes, we supported the Afghan mujahideen. The mujahideen broke into two opposing factions, the Northern Alliance and the Taliban, which then engaged in civil war for control of Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance would eventually play an important role in helping coalition forces oust the Taliban regime. After the Soviets withdrew the US stopped supporting the mujahideen. After the Soviets withdrew, the Taliban received logistical and humanitarian support from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. Pakistan recognized the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, followed by recognition from Saudi Arabia. The Taliban chose to endorse bin Laden’s and Al-Qaeda's religious inspiration that comes from a combination of the fundamentalist Wahabbi ideology of Saudi Arabia and the philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood,a radical form of Islamist ideology hell-bent on supplanting both the current regimes in the Middle East and eventually Western society as a whole, and which gave rise to most of the principal militant Islamist movements in the Middle East today.

When the Taliban came to power, bin Laden was able to forge an alliance between the Taliban and his Al-Qaeda organization. Al Qaeda-trained fighters known as the 055 Brigade were integrated with the Taliban army between 1997 and 2001. The generally accepted and empirically verifiable view is that the Taliban and bin Laden had very close connections.

You stupid, culturally illiterate, pretentious, historically ignorant cunt.

Radical Islam spread from Saudi Arabia and has obviously become globalized, and there are disaffected young Muslim men in Europe, particularly in Europe because the continent has not yet demonstrated the American genius for assimilation, who yearn for some hate-filled grand narrative, who are seduced by an ideology of protest (-something you are all too familiar with-), to vent their grievances. Forty years ago it would have been militant Marxism or Maoist ideology.

But to suggest that the London 7/21 terrorists’, that the London 7/7 terrorists’, that the Madrid 3/11 terrorists’, that the Bali terrorists’, that the 9/11 terrorists’ actions are irrevocably and irreducibly tied to the 1980’s US support of the Afghan mujahideen is beyond the pale. It is tantamount to blaming the local police force for training a cop who becomes unhinged, who embraces a full-blooded misogyny and empties his service-issue semi-9 into his hen-pecking wife. Back to Ethics 101 for you. How’s Law school coming along again?

You stupid, culturally illiterate, pretentious, historically ignorant, intellectually irresponsible cunt.

Venus McGreal, Iraq was never associated with our terrorist enemies? You should leave the big words to the big boys. You sound an awful lot like Mike Tyson trying to impress with grandiloquent locutions. Let us see who is dissembling.

"I can confirm that after the events of September 11, 2001, and up to the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services and Russian intelligence several times received ... information that official organs of Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist acts on the territory of the United States and beyond its borders, at U.S. military and civilian locations." -- Russian President Vladimir Putin as quoted by CNN on June 18, 2004

Bin Laden met at least eight times with officers of Iraq's Special Security Organization, a secret police agency run by Saddam's son Qusay, and met with officials from Saddam's mukhabarat, its external intelligence service, according to intelligence made public by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was speaking before the United Nations Security Council on February 6, 2003.

In 1998, Abbas al-Janabi, a longtime aide to Saddam's son Uday, defected to the West. At the time, he repeatedly told reporters that there was a direct connection between Iraq and al Qaeda.

Mohamed Mansour Shahab, a smuggler hired by Iraq to transport weapons to bin Laden in Afghanistan, was arrested by anti-Hussein Kurdish forces in May, 2000. He later told his story to American intelligence and a reporter for the New Yorker magazine.

Consider this comment by former CIA Director George Tenet in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee on October 7, 2002:

"Credible reporting states that al Qaeda leaders sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire WMD capabilities. The reporting also stated that Iraq has provided training to al Qaeda members in the areas of poisons and gases and making conventional bombs."

Joe Lieberman said, "There are extensive contacts between Saddam Hussein's government and al Qaeda." CIA Director George Tenet, too, has spoken of those contacts and goes further, claiming Iraqi "training" of al Qaeda terrorists on WMDs and provision of "safe haven" for al Qaeda in Baghdad.

Richard Clarke once said the U.S. government was "sure" Iraq had provided a chemical-weapons precursor to an al Qaeda-linked pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. Even Hillary Clinton cited the Iraq-al Qaeda connection as one reason she voted for the Iraq War."

Abu Nidal, who, before the rise of Usama bin Laden was the most wanted man in the world, who was widely regarded as the world's most ruthless terrorist, and the man who pushed Leon Klinghoffer off the boat, was sheltered in Baghdad by Saddam Hussein.

Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and former leader of Hamas, the man who mixed the chemicals for the World Trade Center attack in 1993, the only member of the al Qaeda cell that detonated the 1993 World Trade Center to remain at large during the Clinton years, was sheltered in Iraq by Saddam Hussein. He fled to Iraq. U.S. forces recently discovered a cache of documents in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, that show that Iraq gave Mr. Yassin both a house and monthly salary. And you have the audacity to blithely suggest that Iraq was never associated with our terrorist enemies?

You stupid, culturally illiterate, pretentious, historically ignorant, intellectually irresponsible, breathtakingly fatuous cunt.

Venus McGreal, the demonstrated fact that you are so strangely invulnerable to rational argument and the weight of voluminous contradictory evidence suggests not merely po-faced self-interested stubbornness and ideological persistence but rather a formidably transcendent foolishness. So, back to striking the classic pose of the self-esteeming and priggishness of those who hate The Cars. Back to parroting the received wisdom of your social milleu and the leftoid android echo chamber your perceptions reside in. Back to engaging in a passionless, Pavlovian conditioned response of routine resentment.

Back to being a stupid cunt.

Jeff O’Neill (CounterTerroristUnit)

19. Jeff O'Neill left...

Dear Ed Strong:

What about the offer to help me get my own personal blogsite? How about emailing me? If you think this is heavy-calibre commentary with a claw hammer, a la Nietzsche's philosphy with a hammer, then I still have TOW missiles left for likes of Venus McGreal and the rest of the anti-war hero set. And I will deliver the gold.

Cheers.

Goodnight everybody and drive safely.

Jeff O'Neill (CounterTerroristUnit)

20. Tony B left...

The attacks will not stop until we close our borders stay in our own countries and everyone stays put until we can seek out those guilty. THEN we can go back to what we were doing. This is just a thought but it might could help.

21. Ryan McGreal left...

I've apparently touched a nerve.

Jeff O'Neill felt moved to compose a poem in my honour. I'm duly flattered, and had O'Neill left it at that, I might have retained a grudging respect for him, if only because he managed the rhyme, "You’ll be the cursing the day you laid your eyes on me / When I’m garroting your carotid artery."

But then, just nine minutes later, he felt the need to fire off a dispatch of Coles Notes for his own composition, and that's just bad form.

O'Neill seems to have mistaken verbal bullying for reasoned argument. In an earlier message, he asked (rhetorically, I'm sure), "Getting an appreciation of what it is like to be terrorized yet?"

In response, I'd ask, "Getting an appreciation of what it is like to be a terrorist yet?"

O'Neill certainly takes inordinate joy in his oh-so-clever tactic of trying to make me ashamed for being a terrorist-lover by showing me how it feels to be "terrorized". This, of course, gives him an impenetrable excuse to indulge in graphic depictions of himself performing acts of extreme violence against anyone who disagrees with his reheated Republican Talking Points view of reality. That's not to mention his bombastic, pedantic brow-beating or his stylish repetition of the dreaded c-word, which only morally correct strongmen on anonymous blog comment boxes dare utter.

The FOX-News-talkshow misogynist thread runs through his lame employment of John Gray's retrograde and now sadly dated Mars/Venus dichotomy in an attempted schoolyard taunt, successfully demonstrating the ethical and tactical continuum that runs between bullying and terrorism. Congratulations: no one else could have figured that one out.

But on to his points, such as they are.

He writes, "a meme is a unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is replicated by verbal transmission or by repeated action from one mind to another, usually without any rational foundation."

Thanks for a succint definition. Moral equivalence is a meme, an empty but emotionally laden catch-phrase intended to grind further discussion to a halt. Adolescent perpetual rebellion is likewise a meme, in your case employed as an ad hominem logical fallacy to cast my arguments into discredit by association. Dithering is a highly powerful meme for Canadians, ever since an Economist article referred to Prime Minister Paul Martin as "Mr. Dithers". People who had never heard of the article were using the sobriquet for Martin within days of its publication. The word is heavy with connotation but light on empirical description. Of course, memes are like micro-mini-ideologies: invisible to their host brains. Perhaps O'Neill simply doesn't recognize his own use of memes, but I rather suspect he's using them deliberately and then obfuscating.

Can we move on?

O'Neill provides a brief history of the mijahideen after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, but utterly neglects to mention the most crucial event in the whole sordid mess: after one empire moved out, the insurgents turned their attention on the other empire in the region, which had established permanent military bases in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. Even uber-wonk Paul Wolfowitz acknowledges that perceived U.S. occupation of Muslim land has been a major irritant for mujahideen and its myriad offshoots. Perhaps O'Neill can sit quietly and reflect on how easy and seamless it was for the anti-imperial militia to turn its sights from the "Evil Empire" to the benevolent U.S. of A. Here's a hint: he might like to reflect on what the two empires had in common.

O'Neill writes, "to suggest that are irrevocably and irreducibly tied to the 1980’s US support of the Afghan mujahideen is beyond the pale." Another straw man. I've argued that the CIA, acting in concert with Pakistan's ISI in the biggest covert operation in U.S. history, originally drew together a large group of angry, violent, dangerous people and then gave them the tools, training, and funding to beat off a ruthless, globe-spanning empire. Predictably, that group didn't just go away when its original target receded, but metastasized into a self-perpetuating, decentralized movement with a nationalist agenda, violent tactics, and many deep pockets. At the same time, the US continued to engage in the kinds of activities that pissed off most of the world's people and/or provided the terrorists with great propaganda fodder for eliciting the sympathies of the general public and also siphoning off the most dangerous, unbalanced members of that public for active duty.

I mean, for crying out loud: after 9/11 most of the world was united in sympathy and solidarity with America. 'Today, we are all Americans' - remember? Does O'Neill seriously think that everyone else on earth drank funny kool-aid and started hating America over the ensuing years for no good reason? America has committed some extremely evil shit in the name of fighting terror, including supporting yet more terrorists, killing thousands upon thousands of civilians, and actually expanding its military presence in the Middle East, which is what pissed off the terrorists who hate us in the first place.

The globalized Radical Islam and hate-filled narrative of which O'Neill speaks is exactly the reason why invading countries (particularly countries in which the U.S. has obvious-to-everyone-but-Jeff-O'Neill pre-existing strategic interests) won't help and actually makes the job of recruiting members easier for the terrorists. The rest of the world rightly thinks America's full of shit when it claims it invaded Iraq as part of the war on terror. O'Neill's stubborn refusal to recognize even the most elementary geopolitical motives and antecedents of both sides - i.e. his ignorance - can only be self-inflicted.

O'Neill writes, "Iraq was never associated with our terrorist enemies?" Then, he shovels up some warmed-over, war-hype "intelligence" most of which was originally massaged into being by Doug Feith's orwellian Office of Special Plans and has already long been dismissed and discredited. His desperation to link Saddam with al-Qaeda, and hence justify the Iraq invasion as part of the war on terror, is palpable. Doubtless some terrorists hid out in Iraq from time to time - indeed, a number of terrorists hid out in America prior to 9/11, and even attended government regulated flight schools. Doubtless members of Saddam's government had some meetings with members of terrorist organizations. None of that demonstrates that Iraq was an al-Qaeda sponsor, a haven for terrorists, a training ground for terrorists, etc., etc. (There was that small matter of Saddam being a staunch secularist and al-Qaeda being radical Islamists.) Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are much more likely candidates for this charge, but since the dictators running those places are nominally on our side, we don't "liberate" them.

Next, O'Neill will surely try to argue that Saddam was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Pathetic.

22. Jeff O'Neill left...

Don't you realize that I'm the only fucker that reads your shit? And the worst thing is that if anyone in Hamilton fucks with you the first thing the cops will do is come knocking on my door.

Hugs and Kisses Jeff

23. Venus McGreal left...

Jeff, you're just a bombastic bully and you have a big stinky bum.

Venus McGreal

24. Jeff O'Neill left...

F*L*B*P (for Venus McGreal)

Sturm und drang a living theatre burlesque of Sylvia Plath

Emotion gourmandizing femme fatale sociopath

Politicized hysterias tenured radical technocrats

Sanctimonious sermonizing mass-market counterculture iconoclasts

Doctrinaire soundbyte shibboleths

Drive consciousness blinded by halo effects

Castrating fraudulent demagogue

Hey! Mars to Venus: Back the fuck off

Hey! Mars to Venus…

Hey! Mars to Venus: Back the fuck off

Hey! Mars to Venus…

Hey! Mars to Venus: Back the fuck off

A Fashionable Left-Liberal Bisexual Pseudo-intellectual

A Fashionable Left-Liberal Bisexual Pseudo-intellectual

Eternally offended Red Guard agitprop apparatchik

Professional opponent of tough-minded realpolitik

Drowning in the warm spit bath of in-group victim psychology

Celebrate the communal ecstasy of principled self-pity

Doctrinaire soundbyte shibboleths

Drive consciousness blinded by halo effects

Conflicted frustrated ideologue

Hey! Mars to Venus: Back the fuck off

Hey! Mars to Venus…

Hey! Mars to Venus: Back the fuck off

Hey! Mars to Venus…

Hey! Mars to Venus: Back the fuck off

A Fashionable Left-Liberal Bisexual Pseudo-intellectual

A Fashionable Left-Liberal Bisexual Pseudo-intellectual

Doctrinaire soundbyte shibboleths

Drive consciousness blinded by halo effects

Conflicted frustrated ideologue

Castrating fraudulent demagogue

Hey! Mars to Venus: Respect the penis

Hey! Mars to Venus: Back the fuck off

A Fashionable Left-Liberal Bisexual Pseudo-intellectual

A Fashionable Left-Liberal Bisexual Pseudo-intellectual

25. Venus McGreal left...

Jeff, you're a mysogynist because you called me a cunt.

Venus McGreal

26. Jeff O'Neologism left...

Gynocognition : Thinking like a cunt.

RE: Jack Nicholson's character in AS GOOD AS IT GETS;

Jack Nicholson utters the ultimate Hollywood blasphemy by insulting feminine moral gravitas.

In a scene chosen for the trailer, his character answers a female fan of his fiction who wonders how he comes to be so good at representing women by saying: "I think of a man, then I take away reason and accountability."

Jeff O'Neologism

27. Jeff O'Neill left...

Dear Venus McGreal:

Wheee! Look at me! Everbody! I’m a postmodern ironist.

Any fans of Alan Sokal out there?

Did you notice that by disparagingly referring to my plagiarized mujahideen history as “Coles Notes” you have just bitch-slapped your leftist buddies over at Wikipedia.org?

Ahhh…yes. Wikipedia. The bare-minimal amount of truth the left-wing will admit to and still Venus McGreal clings to the cloying fatuity of strenuous unbelief.

In other words, you have just been caught adamantly not believing the bullshit that you believe in.

I see you gave up on enumerating your paragraphs because I told you to do so.

But now you seem to think that boldface somehow lends weight to your limp-wristed perceptions. Iraq no tie-ties to terrorist bad guys.

I demonstrated that you were the dissembler, the one who conveniently ignores the white elephant in the living room, the one who blithely feigns a level of ignorance greater than that which he has already naturally obtained… I lobbed a Peter North-worthy bukkake train all over your face and I haven’t been drinking pineapple juice for months now, Venus.

And his only retort: Doug Fieth made them say that.

You silly clueless minge.

Only Nixon could go to China.

Only Captain Kirk could negotiate a treaty with the Klingons.

Only Laura Penny, an expert in postmodernism, could pen a book entitled: “The Truth About Bullshit.”

And only Jeff O’Neill could write poetry for Venus McGreal.

You are witnesses to history.

Just because you’re a bible-thumping religious zealot does not necessarily make you wrong about abortion or gay marriage.

Just because you’re a moonbat leftoid android does not necessarily make you wrong about ratcheting the minimum wage up to a living wage.

Just because it is an ad hominem does not necessarily mean that you aren’t a stupid cunt.

Hugs and Kisses

Jeff O'Neill (CounterTerroristUnit)

28. Mizmoon McGreal left...

Dear Ed Strong readers:

I, Mizmoon McGreal, as Ryan’s wife for three years now, and most importantly as a woman, can tell you without hesitancy that Ryan McGreal has never been bisexual…recently.

I think this is a slander of momentous proportions and I think Jeff O’Neill is a bombastic bully with a big stinky bum.

Yours truly,

Mizmoon McGreal

29. Mizmoon McGreal left...

Dear Ed Strong readers:

I, Mizmoon McGreal, as Ryan’s wife for three years now, and most importantly as a woman, can tell you without hesitancy that Ryan McGreal has never been bisexual…recently.

I think this is a slander of momentous proportions and I think Jeff O’Neill is a bombastic bully with a big stinky bum.

Yours truly,

Mizmoon McGreal

30. Jeff O'Neologism left...

Hi, Mizmoon. So what's your bag?

31. Mizmoon McGreal left...

Well, Mr. O'Neologism.

I like murdering black American high school superintendents and throwing bricks through Starbucks’ plate glass windows.

32. Jeff O'Neill left...

Hey! Nice camel toe.

33. Mizmoon McGreal left...

You creep.

34. Mark Une left...

Maaat Daaamon

35. Jeff O'Neill left...

Dear Venus McGreal:

Venus, my gynocognitive moonbat lefttoid android cyberspace pen pal, did you notice that by constantly referring to the phrase ‘adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion’ as a meme that it’s not?

Among the 6.5 billion minds on the face of this earth, this is the replication history of the so-called ‘adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion’ meme, as so identified by Venus McGreal, a silly clueless minge.

“The far left’s pleasure is in the adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion.”

From Brian C. Anderson’s ‘The Ineducable Left.’ A 2002 book review of Hardt and Negri’s antiglob manifesto “Empire.” You should read the article. You will learn a lot about yourself.

“The adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion metastasizes into the smug adult fringe-dweller’s pointless recusancy.”

From Jeff O’Neill’s edstrong.blog-city.com anti-war hero bashing. Brian Anderson was only half right, but I built upon his wisdom and poked fun at how much you sound like Mike Tyson when you use words like ‘metastasized.’ Because “Whatever it is, you’re against it.”

“The adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion is a meme.”

Venus McGreal

It was replicated twice. 6.5 billion minds. It replicates twice.

Unless there are thousands of edstrong.blog-city.com readers running around like Romero zombies intonating “the adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion,” “the adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion,” “I said: the adolescent thrill of perpetual rebellion…” then it is not a fucking meme. But a big hat tip to Venus for signaling to everyone how literate I am.

You stupid cunt.

36. Venus McGreal left...

Your big stinky bum is a meme.

37. Jeff O'Neill left...

Dear Venus McGreal:

Did you notice how much time you have been spending Googling all of my sexiest lines?

And while you were pouring over my every syllable, were you gobsmacked to learn that all the best bits were mine, 100% mine? Do you want to debate me or do you want to fuck me?

Jeff O’Neill (CounterTerroristUnit)

38. Mizmoon McGreal left...

I told you, he isn't bisexual...recently.

39. Venus McGreal left...

You're a homophobe for calling me bisexual.

40. Mark Une left...

Maaat Daaamon.

41. Jeff O'Neill left...

Floater (for Venus McGreal)

Fellow traveling global village idiot

Fatuous silver-tongued devil’s advocate

Docket-driven data-free

Allegiance to ideology

Fellow traveling global village idiot

Fatuous silver-tongued devil’s advocate

Empty-headed pre-digested

Militantly deployed sophistry

Solipsistically arrogant viper

You’re an uncurious cipher

When the conversation’s unrelated

To asinine preoccupations

You’re just a floater in the shallow end of the gene pool

Another frontline soldier in the war against intelligence

A bottom-feeding loser in the natural lottery

An insidious superconductor of bullshit

Willfully ignorant tergiversation

Po-faced self-aggrandization

Docket-driven data-free

Allegiance to ideology

Willfully ignorant tergiversation

Po-faced self-aggrandization

Empty-headed pre-digested

Militantly deployed sophistry

Solipsistically arrogant viper

You’re an uncurious cipher

When the conversation’s unrelated

To asinine preoccupations

You’re just a floater in the shallow end of the gene pool

Another frontline soldier in the war against intelligence

A bottom-feeding loser in the natural lottery

An insidious superconductor of bullshit

42. Maaat Daaamon left...

Mark Une.

43. american airline employee web si left...

american airline employee web site[

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